Montrose, and on the 28th October of the same year, Mr James Wishart, a son of the preceding, was chosen "doctor" or rector of the grammar school. Mr James Wishart, rector of the grammar school of Montrose, was father of a son, William, and three daughters, Jean, Margaret, and Elizabeth. He died 11th September 1683.* William Wishart studied at the University of Edinburgh, and was, on the 23d April 1669, ordained by George Wishart, Bishop of Edinburgh, minister of Newabbey. He was, in 1680, translated to Wamphray, where he died unmarried in February 1685. Elizabeth, third daughter of Mr James Wishart, born November 1664, married Robert Strachan, rector of the grammar school of Montrose, descended from the ancient House of Strachan of Thornton, Kincardineshire. † By patent, dated 22d February 1769, the arms of William Thomas Wishart, head and representative of the House of Pitarrow, were recorded in the Lyon Register: argent, three piles or passion nails, meeting in a point, gules; supporterstwo horses, argent, saddled and bridled, gules; crest—a demieagle, wings expanded, proper. * Fasti Eccl. Scot., vol. i., pp. 597, 664; Montrose Parish Records. DOMESTIC EVERYDAY LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. By GEORGE HARRIS, LL.D., F.S.A., Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and Vice-President of the THERE is nothing which contributes more fully to throw light on the manners and habits of a people, or more forcibly to exhibit to us the tone of thought which prevailed among them, than the rites and ceremonies that they adopted connected with their religion. And the wilder and more extravagant the superstitions which in such a nation prevailed, the more strikingly do they evince the tone of thought and feeling that animated the people. Potent everywhere, and under whatever phase, as was the influence of these notions, they served in each case to develop the whole mind and character of the nation; as each passion, and emotion, and faculty, were exerted to the very utmost on a subject of such surpassing interest to them all. Imagination here, relieved from all restraint, spread her wings and soared aloft, disporting herself in her wildest mood; and the remoter the period to which the history of any particular country reaches, and the more barbarous the condition in which the people existed, the more striking, and the more extraordinary to us, appear the superstitions by which they were influenced. Human nature is by this means developed to the full, all its energies are exerted to the utmost, and the internal machinery by which its movements are impelled, is stimulated to active operation. We gaze with wonder and with awe upon the spectacle thus exhibited. However involuntarily, we respect a people-misguided and erring as they were-whose eagerness to follow whatever their conscience prompted, urged them to impose such revolting duties on themselves; while we regard, with pity and with horror, those hideous exploits which were the fruit of that misguided zeal. Through the wide and varied range of the history of the world, no subject can be found which exceeds this in the interest that it excites in every reflecting mind; nor in the instruction which, to those of every period and of every country alike, it is capable of imparting. In the consideration of the branch of the subject now before us, we have not, as in the former cases, to inquire into the invention of the system by the ingenuity of man; but to endeavour to ascertain by what means, the system itself— which had probably been originally imparted in all its grand and leading features to the mind of man by the Divinity himself-became perverted and corrupted by the carelessness or wilfulness or ignorance of man. A rude curiosity urged him to try and discover the truth that had been obscured, or to find out for himself some new truth which would conduct him in safety on his career. When mankind had lost the knowledge of the true God, they at once set to work to invent gods for themselves. The sun, moon, and stars, from their majesty, and their apparent influence on our world, offered themselves as immediate objects of adoration. After them, certain animals were selected for this purpose. One ancient writer causes Momus to express his surprise and indignation at the Egyptian crew of apes, goats, bulls, and other creatures, who were allowed, according to their notions, to intrude into heaven; and wonders how Jupiter can tolerate all this, and allow himself to be caricatured in ram's horns. To which Jupiter replies, that they were mysteries not to be decided by the ignorant and uninitiated. In some parts of Egypt, the crocodile was an object of worship.† After animals, mankind were led to worship the elements of fire and water, in the seas and rivers near the spots where they lived; and whose constant motion might perhaps have induced persons to associate with them some notion of vitality *Note to Sir H. Rawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii., pp. 51, 52. + Ib., p. 64. and intelligence. In the absence of having real objects of worship, rude representations of them were in time adopted, whether of wood or stone, whence arose the origin of idolatrous worship; and the necessity of providing receptacles for these images, and for those who were required to take care of them, and to assist in the ceremonies used at such worship, may have originated temples and a priesthood. The earliest idols, we are told, were rude stocks. Sometimes they were roughly hewn, so as to increase their resemblance to a man or an animal. In other cases large blocks of stone were selected for the purpose, on which were cut the names of the gods they were intended to represent. No sort of idol was more common than that of oblong stones erected. In some parts of Egypt they were to be seen on each side of the highways. These stones were generally rendered black, which seems to have been thought in those times the most solemn colour, and suitable for objects dedicated to religious purposes. Some persons are of opinion that their true original is to be derived from the pillar of stone which the patriarch Jacob erected at Bethel. Many of the superstitions rife among the Druids, are supposed to have been derived from Egypt, among which was the worship of the serpent; whence arose the serpentine form in which many of their temples were constructed, and probably also the serpentine lines still to be traced on several of their monuments. Rude stones, sometimes horizontal, sometimes perpendicular, some intended for monuments, others for altars, and groups of them for temples, were also used by those who, in this country and in France, professed the religion of the Druids. Several of the barbarous nations worshipped mountains. When the art of sculpture had been invented, rude stones and stocks were carved so as to resemble real and living beings, generally men, but sometimes animals. This we also observe in the Druidical relics which are still in existence, a remarkable instance of which is afforded by the carvings, mainly serpentine lines, in the interior of the famous Druidical temple on the island of Gâvr Innis, near the coast of Brittany. Among the ancient Greeks, their statues were generally made of wood. Those trees which were sacred to any god, were generally thought most acceptable to him; and therefore Jupiter's statue was made of oak, Venus's of myrtle, that of Hercules of poplar, and Minerva's of the olive tree.* The learned Bishop Godwin, in his work on the civil and ecclesiastical rites of the ancient Hebrews,† refers to the images possessed by Laban, which he supposes to have been used as household gods; and the writer remarks that "among other reasons why Rachel stole away her father's images, this is thought to be one, that Laban might not by consulting with these images discover what way Jacob took his flight." The first generations of men, we are told, had neither temples nor statues for their gods, but worshipped towards heaven in the open air. The Greeks and most other nations, worshipped their gods upon the tops of high mountains. And even Abraham was commanded by God to offer his son Isaac upon one of the mountains in the land of Moriah. In later ages, temples were often built upon the summits of mountains; and both at Athens and Rome the most sacred temples stood in the highest parts of the city. Several of the heathen temples are thought to have been at first only stately monuments erected in honour of the dead. The temples in the country were generally surrounded with groves sacred to the tutelar deity of the place where, before the invention of temples, the gods were worshipped. The entrance was towards the west, and the altars and statues towards the east; so that they who came to worship might have their faces towards them, because it was an ancient custom among the heathens to worship with their faces towards the east. The earliest Grecian temples were made of wood, out of which, in the natural progress of improvement, grew those of stone. Nearly all the Grecian temples had the same formthat of a barn, ornamented with columns upon the fronts and sides. *Potter's Grecian Antiquities, pp. 225, 226. + Lib. iv., chap. ix., p. 171. Arts of Greeks and Romans, vol. i., p. 295. |